South Hills Junction Web Page

[Robert E. Rathke]

The Western Pa. Model RR Museum in Gibsonia has an HO model (100X40'
layout) of the railroad lines from Smithfield St. in Pittsburgh to the
Western Maryland RR in Cumberland.  Selected scenes (e.g., Laughlin Jct.,
and Meyersdale) along the route are modeled - photos and maps of each
modeled scene are on the walls opposite each scene.  Even individual
homes in the towns are accurately modeled.

To the point of this e-mail: the scenes start at a model of the
Smithfield St. Bridge, with the P&LE station to the south, and the old
B&O Station to the north.  And...there are PRC PCC cars operating on the
bridge between the railroad stations.  There's also an operating model of
the Monongahela Incline on the hill behind the P&LE Station.  As a B&O
fan, I was floored when I first saw this layout - it's the best model of
an actual rail scene that  I've ever seen.

I have more information (address, hours, website) if anyone's interested.

Bob 12/8
                                       -------------------------------

The 21st Century starts on January 1, 2001.  Just a reminder.

On Wed, 8 Dec 1999 11:27:16 -0500  "Dietrich, Robert J."
<bob.dietrich at unisys.com> writes:
>I was thinking more along the lines of just holding the car in the 
>short
>tunnel for a minute or so to simulate the 3,498 feet.  How long did it 
>take
>a car to go through the tunnel when it had brakes?  I imagine outbound 
>would
>be slower.
>
>The module I want to see built, by someone else, is the Smithfield 
>Street
>Bridge - full size.
>
>Thanks for the good comments, I'll update the web page with them soon.
>
>Bob
>
> -----Original Message-----
>From: 	Jim Holland [mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net] 
>Sent:	Wednesday, December 08, 1999 3:03 AM
>To:	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>Subject:	Re: South Hills Junction Web Page
>
>Greetings!
>
>Jim Holland wrote:
>
>>         You mention an 'helix' at the end in reference to homasote 
>but
>take
>> that a step further and make the Mt. Washington streetcar tunnel 
>with
>> this idea and you will be able to travel the prototypical distance 
>of
>> almost 4,000 feet in scale!
>
>	Actually the tunnel measurment I have is 3,498 feet.  IF you 
>could
>make
>your outside radius 24" and the inside radius 22" and spiral down and
>then up 3 loops each and crossing over from outside to inside or 
>inside
>to outside spiral in each direction, then you would make six complete
>loops for a total of 443 inches, or just over 36 feet.  With a one 
>foot
>lead in track to the spirals inside the tunnel on each end and about 
>two
>feet needed between each helix at the bottom of the helix - you come 
>up
>with the 40 feet required in HO to travel the length of the Mt.
>Washington trolley tunnel!
>	And here is another suggestion:  make the Smithfield and 
>Carson
>intersection as a module and tie the Carson Street track into the 
>44/48
>branch at South Hills Junction by making a couple modules to go around
>one side of the tunnel!  Make it single track to simulate the 49 and
>continue double track along Carson as an independent branch!
>	You'll probably be able to think of a way to make a couple 
>modules
>and
>have the 40 line run on top of the tunnel module!
>	How big is your trailer to haul the modules?  I'll be able to
>suggest
>quite a few other modules you could build!
>
>James B. Holland
>------- -- ---------
>        Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 
>1953
>    To e-mail *off-list,* please click here: mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
>N.M.R.A.  Life Member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/

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